NEWS
Former Governor’s Unusual House is Getting a Facelift
A loan from Indiana Landmarks helps Franklin County’s nonprofit preservation group tackle repairs at the Brookville home James B. Ray, Indiana’s fourth governor.
Celebrated Survivor
Around 1821, James B. Ray — Indiana’s fourth governor — built a home for his family in Brookville. Constructed in the popular Federal Style, the wooden frame I-house includes a large elegant Palladian window on the south side. With decorative pilasters, a transom fanlight, and 29 individual panes of glass, the elaborate window became the subject of controversy when it was installed, considered “too aristocratic” by his Brookville neighbors, many of whom believe it was a symbol of unseemly extravagance.
A 1930 clip from the Indianapolis News describes how the elaborate window of James Ray’s Brookville home was dubbed “Ray’s Folly.”
For a number of years, the home served as rectory for the Brookville Church of Christ. When the church considered demolishing the Ray house in 2004, Franklin County Citizens for Historic Preservation (FCCHP) stepped in to buy the property, using a $60,000 loan from Indiana Landmarks’ Statewide Revolving Loan Fund. The group’s renovation fundraising campaign included support from the Brookville Foundation, the Franklin County Community Foundation and the Efroymsom Family Foundation.
Thanks to a recent $30,000 loan from Indiana Landmarks’ Efroymson Family Endangered Places program, FCCHP will tackle additional repairs at the Ray house, including paint and repairs to siding, foundation, and a retaining wall. The non-profit preservation group rents the house as a single-family home to generate income for its projects.
Though there is some dispute as to whether or not Ray lived in the home — he was elected to the Indiana State House of Representatives in 1822 — he became Indiana’s youngest and last non-partisan governor in 1825 when he fulfilled the remainder of Governor William Hendricks term, who resigned after being elected to the U.S. Senate. Ray was elected twice in his own right as governor later in 1825 and in 1828. Regardless of early controversy, the Ray house and its signature window have survived to become Brookville landmarks thanks to the partnership of FCCHP and Indiana Landmarks.
The FCCHP has also been involved in other projects in Brookville, including efforts to save the Valley House on Main St. and restoration of gravestones at a local cemetery located behind the Ray house.
For more information regarding the Ray house or Indiana Landmarks’ loan program, contact our Eastern Regional Office at 765-478-3172, east@indianalandmarks.org.
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